Stringed musical instrument



l if. 55 Iran, I $5 |55. In. lara' l all April 21, 1931- P. GRUPPE STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Aug. 28, 1929 1 INVENTOR Baudo @fraz/ape "25 monly employed for this Patented Apr. 2l, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PAULO GRUPPE, F NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF TO GEORGE RAMSEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK STRINGED BIUSICAL INSTl'tUlVIEN'I Application filed August 28, 1929. Serial No. 388,866.

L It is customary to provide a stringed musical instrument Awith a resonating body to substantially enclose a predetermined volume of air; and certain types of musical instruments, usually stringed instruments 1.0 adapted to be played by a bow, are provided with sounding posts which extend between the fronts and backs of the instruments. The sounding post is usually located adjacent the bridge of the instrument in such manl ner as to transmit vibrations from the sound board directly to the back of the instrument, and in this manner, increases the resonance and volume of the tones produced by the strings. The sound post construction has i 20 considerable to do with the quality and tone ofV the instrument and should be of light Weight, or small mass, so as not to dampen the vibrations. vSound posts are usually made of light strong Wood, and spruce is compurpose. Such solid Wood posts, however, seem to interfere with the air vibrations in the resonant body.

It is` particularly desirable that theentire volume of air Within the body of the instrui ment shall be free to vibrate throughout the body of the instrument Without being broken by intermediate parts. It has been found by experiment that a sound post constructed of light tubular material, being elastic and atthe same time rigid, substantially increases the quality and tone of the instrument. The tone is further greatly improved by providing the sound posts with a large number 0f transverse openings in such manner that the air vibrations in the body of the instrument are not interrupted by the sound post itself, but may pass directly through the post Without being reflected or diverted by the sides ofthe post. It has been further determined that a very thin hardened steel tube perforated With a plurality of openings and provided on its ends With tightly fitted Wooden plugs comprises an excellent construction for carrying out the purpose of the present n' invention.

Experimentation has also shown that the quality and tone of the instrument may be further improved by providing a small tubular member adjacent the base of the instrument, which member is perforated with a plurality of openings in such manner as to prevent the member from forming a tuned resonating cup. To this end, this improvement may be accomplished in instruments having a supporting peg, such as cellos and double basses, by providing a longitudinal opening in the supporting peg, Which opening leads to the resonance chamber in the bodv of the instrument, and Which opening is in communication with the outer air through a plurality of lateral holes leading through the walls of the peg. These lateral holes prevent the chamber in the peg from forming a resonant pipe. The operation of this improved structure is not Well understood, although the effect is very noticeable. It is probable that the opening in the base of the instrument relieves this portion of the resonating chamber of the instrument from any deadening effect which may be produced on the Waves of the body of the instrument because the base of the instrument is one of the least resonating parts thereof.

4 In instruments of the violin or viola type the same improved result may be obtained by providing a perforated tubular member comprising a tail piece button with a longitudinal opening which communicates with the resonating chamber of the instrument and is connected to the outer air by a plurality of lateral openings, thereby preventing the chamber from forming a tuned resonating tube.

Referring nou7 to the drawings, Fig. 1 illus-- trates a cross section through an instrument of the cello or double bass type provided with the improved sound post and supporting peg carried by the bottom of the instrument.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the preferred form of improved sound post.

Fig. 3 illustrates a 'section through Fig. 2 on line 3-3. n

Fig. 4 illustrates a section through the improved violin tail piece button and a por'- tion of the side wall of the base at the bottom end of the violin.

Referring now more especially to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the instrument illustrated in Fig. 1 is an instrument of the cello or double bass type provided with a neck portion 1, a sound board 2, a back 4, a bridge 5, strings 6, ltail piece 7, and supporting peg 8. The sound post 9 ol the improved type extends between the sound board 2 and the back 4. TheY sunporting peg 8 is provided with alongitudinal 10 which leads into the resonating chamber 11 of the body of the instrument. A plurality ot lateral openings 12 are provided in the supporting peg 8 and these lateral openings lead to the ylongitudinal opening 10 in such manner as to prevent the longitudinal opening 1() from becoming a tuned resonant column ot air. y

Referring now more especiallyv to Figs. 2 and 3, which illustrate a preferred 'term et the sound post 9, this sound post, in this preferred l'orm, is constructed ot a rigi d tube 14: provided with a large number of side wall openings 15, and is plugged at the ends with wooden plugs 16 which tit tightly into the tube and, if desired, may be cemented in place. A hardened steel thin walled tube has been found by experiment to comprise the preferred material from which to construct the sound post. It is desirable that the side wall of the tube shall be extremely thin, much thinner than illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, wherein thickness of the side wall is shown merely for the purpose of illustration of other features. It is particularly desirable that the openings 15 shall be numerous and preferably the openings on opposite sides of the tube are diametrically opposite each other, so that air vibrations mayvpass through the tube without substantial interruption. The end plugs 16' are provided to enable the instrument maker to fit the ends of the sound post properly into the instrument and alsoto prevent the ends ot the tube from cutting either the sound board or the back of the instrument.

Fig. 4 illustrates the tail piece button of a violin or viola, and comprises a button vmember 17 provided with a longitudinal opening 18 from which leads a plurality of lateral openings 19, also preferably inclined openings 20 extend diagonally from the outer portion of the button into that part of the button which passes through the end wall 21 ofthe instrument,'so that there is no part of the longitudinal chamber 18 which is not in communication with the outer air. The saine kind of oblique or inclined openings may be provided in the Vsupporting peg 8 used in celles and basses, to .reach the longitudinal opening in the part of the tube eX- tending through the bottom wall of the instrument.

In the old well known construction of string instruments, the solid sound post and the closed ends of the resonating body appear to cause slight distortions in the air waves or vibrations within the resonating chamber in the instrument body, so that an artist is compelled to use great skill and effort to bring out the best in the instrument.

These new improvements prevent and obviate the air wave distortions so that the result is a clear brilliant sparkling tone which 'lows 'freely from the instrument which is instantly responsive to the mastery of the skilled artist.

What I claim is 1. A string musical instrument provided with a body comprising a resonating chamber and a perforated tubular member having a large number of holes in the side wall thereof from one end of the member tothe other and comn'iunicating with said resonatingl chamber.

2. A string musical instrument having a body comprising a resonating chamber and a tubular member provided with a plural- :ity of diametrically opposed lateralopenings, said tubular member being operatively connected with said resonatinr chamber.

3. A sound post for stringed instruments comprising a tubular body provided with a plurality of perforations from one end to the other and extending through the side walls of said tubular body.

1i. A sound post for stringed musical instruments comprising al metallic tubular member having a plurality of opposed lateral openings through the side wall for substantially the full length of said member and with a plug member in each end of said tub ul ar member.

5. A sound post lor stringed musical instruments comprising a hardened steel thin walled tube provided with a plurality of lateral openings and with non-metallic plugs in the ends of said tube. Y

6. A sound post for stringed musical instruments comprising a tubular body portion provided with a large numberof diametrically opposed transverse openin s through the side wall of said tubular bot y portion.

7. A sound post for stringed musical instruments comprising a hardened steel cylindrical tube with a thin side wall having a plurality of diametrically disposed openings in said side wall, and wooden plugs in the ends of said tube to form supports adapted to 'set against the front and back of a musical instrument.

8. In a string musical instrument having a body forming a resonating chamber, the combination of a hollow sound post extending across said resonating chamber and provided with a plurality of transverse openings through which sound waves in said chamber may freely pass, said openings being so spaced lengthwise of said post that the entire hollow part thereof is so perforated as to prevent interception and distortion of said sound Waves.

9. A sound post for musical instruments comprising a tubular body having a large number of lateral openings through the tubular portion of said body, and plugs inserted in the ends of said tubular body.

PAULO GRUPPE. 

